


Absolute Radiance

by elil



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Heavy Angst, everyone suffers, except the radiance she's doing great
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 14:02:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18500491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elil/pseuds/elil
Summary: The Radiance is free, and this does not bode well for what remains of Hallownest.





	Absolute Radiance

It shut its eyes, but it did nothing to dim the orange. It had felt two of the seals break, and it did not know if that was good or bad, but it did not matter. It could not break. It could not break. It could not break. The sea of void had long dried up, leaving only the burning light, but it could not break. 

Hollow screamed, a pulse of light breaking its bindings and dropping it to the floor. It curled in on itself. It could not break.

“Do you know,” she hummed, stepping closer in the dream. It hissed, scrambling back, stopped by a lance she threw through its mask. “What the Wyrm’s greatest weakness was?”

Nothing. He had been good, and kind, and-

“He cared too much. Break, my dear, and take solace in knowing he could never create something truly hollow.”

* * *

The Radiance took a deep breath. It was stale and sweet, bubbles of infection lighting the otherwise dim chamber. Ghostly white chains hung above her. The vessel she had fought so long to escape from laid beside her, breathing faint, mask broken in half and its face and chest bubbling with plague. 

Had this been the Wyrm’s master plan? Not to fight her himself, but to rely on a construct? She considered putting the thing out of its misery. 

“I hope you will forgive me,” she said, gently touching what remained of its mask. “For finding further use in you. Know I bear you no ill will.”

She infused it with light. Its will was fragile—oh, Wyrm, you poor fool—and desperate for guidance. She could not offer it shade but she could offer a softer light, a warmth, not a fire. It did not have to fight this. Its relief was palpable. 

It got to its feet, trembling. Beneath its broken mask, its shade was struck white, the light slowly, slowly growing to consume more of its being. 

“You’ve done so well,” she hummed, and within her hivemind she heard it sing from the praise. Was that all it wanted? What a sweet thing. “Go. Announce Hallownest’s new rule.”

It led her out of the temple. Ah, as if a few seals would contain her. It limped down the crossroads and out of sight, its scream ringing through the caverns. She nodded, content to watch it leave plague in its wake. “I’ve missed this place.”


End file.
